


A Mermaid and an Enderman Meet, friendship ensues

by MsDizzyDahlia



Series: Hybrid SMP - A collection of shenanigans, origin stories, and angst [1]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Anything else I should add? Let me know, Drowning, Gen, Ghosts, Hybrids, Merpeople, Niki and Ranboo are adorable, So are Wilbur and Niki, endermen, fear of water, kind of, so how about that new smp?, very briefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:06:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29500377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsDizzyDahlia/pseuds/MsDizzyDahlia
Summary: Niki recently moved to the area, and has already made a friend in Wilbur, a friendly phantom who haunts a cabin by the lagoon shores, and she's about to make another one.
Relationships: Niki | Nihachu & Ranboo, Niki | Nihachu & Wilbur Soot
Series: Hybrid SMP - A collection of shenanigans, origin stories, and angst [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2166936
Comments: 4
Kudos: 136





	A Mermaid and an Enderman Meet, friendship ensues

**Author's Note:**

> CW: Very brief drowning, very non graphic, fear of water (kind of)
> 
> SO HOW ABOUT THAT NEW HYBRID/ORIGIN SMP HUH?
> 
> Whose your favorite? For me it's Niki, I love her very much, but I may be just the tiniest bit biased because I love merfolk an unhealthy amount.

Niki streamlined through the water quickly, holding an armload of clay. She was almost finished with her home, all that was left was to finish stabilizing the ceiling to make it safe enough to sleep in, and then the cave would be complete. She had found it a few weeks ago, in this lovely lagoon little lagoon she had settled down in. It had a wonderful stone that peaked out of the water in the center for sunbathing, it was a shame she could only stay on it for a few seconds each time, or she had to keep her head submerged, which meant she didn’t look very graceful or elegant. 

The cave had been very small, but she had spent a lot of time widening it. It was also made mostly of loose sand, which wasn’t the sturdiest thing in the world, so she had been adding clay to the walls and ceiling around her to make sure she didn’t get buried in a sand slide in her sleep. It was hard work, and often left her exhausted, but it was worth it to have a safe place to sleep in where she wouldn’t have to worry about anything attacking her.

One thing she had learned the hard way was that drowned were much more common in freshwater bodies. It was one of the few downsides of her new living space. 

She really loved her new home, though, all around her was a thick forest, with wildflowers of every kind growing everywhere. They were beautiful to look at, and she wished she could collect them for her home, but alas, living in the water meant that surface plants stood no chance in her home. They’d simply drown and float back up to the surface.

The lagoon was hidden from human view as well, which she was glad for. It wasn’t that she thought that all humans were bad, it was just that… well… a lot of them seemed to forget that she was still just as human as them. Just because she was a merling doesn’t mean that she didn’t still have emotions!

She had a neighbor too. Wilbur, a friendly phantom, lived in his little haunted cabin right by the shore. The two of them had spent a good amount of time talking and getting to know one another, and they bonded over their shared love of the rain. Rain meant that for Niki, who normally couldn’t breathe the dry air of the surface, she could walk around on land and enjoy the forest for a little bit, and for Wilbur, who burned in the daylight, it meant that he was free to walk around with getting set on fire by the sun.

There were a few others in the area, such as a very loud avian and a small shulker who seemed to cling to one another like lifelines, and a blazeborne who constantly complained about getting the short end of the stick, but Wilbur was the only one she had forged a connection to so far. She wanted to change that in the future, but until they visited her first, that probably wouldn’t happen. 

Before she had moved here, she had lived in the open ocean. Near an ocean temple, in fact. She and the guardians there had worked together to protect it, but it had been ransacked recently, the guardians were killed, and she herself narrowly avoided capture. Now here she was. She was very happy with her decision so far. She wasn’t lonely anymore, she had someone other than fish to keep her company, and she could focus on making her small area as pretty as possible instead of just hunting and sleeping all day because aside from when the temple was attacked, there wasn’t much to do in the ocean.

She reached her cave, and swam up to the ceiling, looking around to see where there still needed to be patching. She had finished a basic grid structure across the ceiling and was now just filling in the holes, and there were very few left. Once she was sure that everything was secure she could start moving her stuff into the cave, and then she would be all set. She’d be able to go out and explore more once it started raining again, and maybe one of these days she’d find a drowned with a trident for her to use to replace the one she’d lost while swimming away from the humans.

Niki hummed as she worked, filling in the hole and packing it as tightly as she could. Once satisfied, she began smoothing it out, blending the edges to the clay that was already there, until it matched the rest of the cave. Her tail swished behind her even as she floated effortlessly in the water, and her legs moved back and forth slightly, keeping her suspended. 

Like most Merlings, her skin was a not quite human color, in this case, a very pale pink. Her hair was bubblegum pink, her eyes a rich dark brown, and her outfit a mix of deep blues and silver. Some merlings only had fish tails, some only had legs. She was lucky enough to have both, which meant that she was faster in the water than those with just legs, but slightly slower on land than them. 

Suddenly she heard a crack from above, then a loud splash as something fell into the water. Niki turned around sharply to see that a tree branch had broken off and fallen down, and along with it, a person. They were extremely tall and lanky, with pitch black skin with white patches here and there, and unnaturally bright eyes, one red, one green. They were wearing… a suit? Huh, an actual tuxedo. And a crown. That seemed incredibly inconvenient for moving around, but hey, who was she to judge someone’s fashion choices. 

Immediately, the person began thrashing around, making pained, staticky noises, and teleporting around erratically, pure fear on their face. They seemed to be trying to get up to the surface, but the aforementioned panic and pain was making it difficult. An enderian! She hadn’t even known there was one living nearby!

There were a few moments where she was still, unmoving, trying to get over her shock and process what was happening right in front of her. However, the enderian’s increasingly louder noises brought her back to reality, and she snapped into action.

She shot through the water over to them, wrapping her arms around their waist and kicking with all her might to propel them both to the surface. It was her tail that did most of the work, the powerful appendage made her move faster than a human with dolphin’s grace. The enderian continued to writhe in pain, and she did her best to soothe them, though truthfully, she was more focused on getting to the surface. If she didn’t get up there soon, this poor enderian would die. Death by water, that would be a painful way to go.

After what felt like too long, even though the water was not nearly as deep as the water in the ocean, they breached the surface, and Niki started kicking over to the shore. She tried sucking in the air, but it dried out her throat and did nothing for her except leave her gasping. She ducked her head underwater to suck in a real breath instead. 

They reached the edge of the lagoon, and she pushed the enderian onto the sand, before immediately diving down again. After a few deep breaths as she caught her breath and felt her heart slow from the adrenaline, she lifted the very top of her head out of the water, just enough so that her eyes were above the surface, and watched as the enderian shook and coughed up water, gasping for air.

She made a concerned noise in the back of her throat, which came out as a gurgle. The enderian paused and looked over at her with slight disbelief. She wasn’t surprised. Enderians tended to avoid large bodies of water at all costs, it was very believable that he could go his entire life without meeting a merling.

“Um… hello?” The enderian said uncertainly. His voice was deep and a bit monotone.

Niki rose up out of the water a little bit more so that her head was fully out, but her gills were still safely submerged. “Hello.” She said, smiling shyly. “Are you alright?” 

“I… think so? God, I don’t even know how that happened, I was just trying to get a good view of where I wanted to teleport and then-” He stopped and began hacking again. Niki flinched at the sudden noise and wrung her hands anxiously. “God, sorry.” He said, gripping his head with his hand. “That was… oh jeez. Yeah um, sorry if I startled you.” 

“It’s okay.” Niki swam forward slightly. “Are you sure that you aren’t seriously hurt anywhere? That didn’t sound too good. My friend might be able to help you if you need it.” 

The enderian shook his head. “I’m… fine, I think. Uh… thank you, for saving me. I… should not have been that far out on that branch. That was stupid.”

“It’s okay. You did startle me, but I’m just glad that you’re okay.” She smiled at him. “I’m Niki.” 

“Ranboo.” The enderian replied. “Uh… what kind of hybrid are you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone like you.”

“Oh, I’m a merling.” Niki responded, her thin translucent fins that served as her ears flicked once. “I’m new to the area. Nice to meet you!” She giggled slightly.

“Oh, uh, cool. Nice to meet you too, I’m also new. I’m enderian, if you haven’t already figured that out.” He laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. 

Niki opened her mouth to respond, but felt something drip onto her head. Startled, she looked up. There were more drops, tt was just a few at first, but she quickly realized what was going on. It was starting to rain.

“Uh oh.” Ranboo said, looking up at the sky. “Talk about terrible timing.” Personally, Niki was overjoyed to see the rain, that meant she could go on land for a little bit! But it didn’t take her long to remember that water was the very thing she had just saved Ranboo from a few minutes ago, so it was probably bad news for him.

“My friend Wil lives in that cabin over there. You can stay there to wait out the rain.” Niki pointed with her thumb to the cabin over her shoulder. The words were barely out of her mouth before she blinked, and Ranboo had seemingly disappeared.

“Over here!” The enderian called, and Niki turned around to see Ranboo now standing on the porch of the cabin, which was covered. The rain was coming down a little harder by now, so she was glad that he had a covering over his head. But his clothes were still soaked, and that was probably still painful for him, so he should probably get inside and a change of clothes as soon as possible. She laughed, and dove under the waves, speeding through the water and popping her head back up, fully raising her torso out this time. 

“Wil!” Niki called at the top of her lungs. It didn’t take her long to see Wilbur peeking out through the window. She waved and pointed at the door, and a few seconds later, the door swung open. Ranboo startled and made a frankly adorable noise, clearly not prepared for a phantom to be the one to answer the door. 

“Oh! Uh… hello.” Wil glanced back and forth between Niki and Ranboo. “Is there uh… something I can help you with?” He asked, his voice tinged with confusion. 

“Oh um…” Ranboo chewed on his thumbnail. “Niki said that you lived here and that you two were friends and I need a place to stay while it rains so… can I come in? Sorry if that sounds rude or aggressive” 

“Uh, yeah I guess so.” Wilbur said, pressing his lips together. His eyes lit up in realization. “Oh, enderian, right? Yeah you definitely wanna get inside. I’ll see if I have anything that fits you.” He chuckled. Ranboo laughed along with him, but glanced uncertainly back at Niki. 

“Don’t worry, Ranboo, I’ll meet you inside.” She rested her arms on shore and set her head down on them. 

“O… kay?” Ranboo looked mildly confused, which was fair, but did turn around and head inside. Niki waved at Wilbur one last time before diving beneath the surface of the water. It was disappointing not to walk around on land, she loved the feeling of mud and grass beneath her feet, but she didn’t want Ranboo to be stuck alone with a stranger. 

Wilbur’s house sat right above her cave, which might be unstable, but there was a layer of stone between the two of them, so it was all good. It hadn’t caved in yet, so she would take that as a plus. 

On the side of her wall was an entrance to a tunnel. After she and Wilbur had befriended one another, the tunnel had been one of the first things the two of them had worked together to do. It wound through the ground and up into Wilbur’s home, where he had built a glass tank for her in one corner of the house. It wasn’t very large, there was hardly any room for her to move at all, but she could sit comfortably in it, and Wil's house wasn’t that big anyway. 

She swam through the tunnel, and opened the trap door that led into the tank. She swam up and closed the door behind her, settling onto the small floor. Ranboo was inside, now in a change of clothes, looking at the tank with curiosity, but smiled when he saw her. 

“Can you hear me alright? I know Wil sometimes has trouble.” Niki said, raising her voice a little and placing a hand on the glass.

“It’s a little muffled, but I can hear you fine for the most part.” Ranboo replied. “Uh… sorry for all the trouble. I know you two probably want to be outside right now.”

“It’s no problem.” Wil interrupted, shrugging. “Feel free to stay here anytime. I’m Wilbur.”

“Ranboo.” Ranboo held out his hand, and Wilbur eyed if for a few seconds before hesitantly taking it. Ranboo startled, and laughed nervously, his expression going from surprised to suspicious to just plain confused within the span of a few seconds. “Oh wow- that is weird.” Niki laughed. Touching Wil was… interesting. It felt like all the heat in your body drained out of you, and he was always colder than ice.

Which, in her opinion, was kind of ironic for someone who gets set on fire every time they touch sunlight. 

The three of them talked for some time, while the rain poured down outside. Part of Niki mourned the loss of the chance to go outside, but she found that talking with her newfound friend was more than worth the lost time. Ranboo was shy, awkward, and antisocial, but after a little while he started to open up. Ranboo told them all how he found this place, and turns out they were really deep into the woods, dozens upon dozens of miles away from the nearest human settlement, and he had had to walk for weeks to get here. Niki described the coral reef she once saw while journeying to the river, and Wilbur played his guitar. His echoey voice gave the music a melancholy tone that fit the dreary weather. 

Wil set up a fire and made hot chocolate for himself and Ranboo, and Niki envied them a little bit for being able to feel the heat and taste the chocolatey liquid. But she was still perfectly content with where she was right now, and as the talking went on, she found herself getting a bit drowsy. 

Eventually, their conversation died out, and the three of them just sat in comfortable silence. And it wasn’t like Niki meant to fall asleep in the fish tank, it wasn’t even very comfortable, she much preferred the sandy floors of her lagoon, but the atmosphere was calm and peaceful, and the rain was still coming down hard, so she wasn’t going to just leave her friends at the moment.

So yeah, maybe she did fall asleep to the quiet sounds of Wil strumming his guitar and the fire crackling and the rain pattering against the ground and hitting the glass pane of the window. But honestly, can you blame her?

**Author's Note:**

> Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh I love this new smp so much.
> 
> I heard somewhere that "Origin SMP" is already a thing, so we should try to avoid using that name for the new smp to avoid rebranding it? But I also don't have any sources on that so it might not be true. IDK
> 
> I love this


End file.
